Dear Will

Prologue

Will was surprised that they forgot his birthday. No one had even mentioned it to him. But he never complained to anyone, even his mom. Everyone here had secrets that were possibly best made known, but much to his relief, no one moved their pieces. Ironically, today was eventual for his friends, not himself. Eleven had been publicly bullied by one of her classmates on the first day of Spring Break. It was at the Rink O Mania, her first time, and was mocked by Angela's gang and bombarded with jeer, scorn, and a cup of coffee.

Mike, who had flown in just today, was powerless to help since he was made unaware of El's predicament. For some reason she didn't want Mike to know she was a misfit, as though moving away to a new place made her somehow better. But now Mike found out his girlfriends problem in the worst way a boyfriend could.

Will felt ashamed since he suspected that this was bound to happen in some form. She had been disrespected and exposed as immature most of the semester in California High. Even as her english and social skills improved greatly since High School she was still a misfit. More so than he was back at Hawkins. He could only imagine what what would have awaited her in Spring Break. That is, if she hadn't attacked Angela shortly after her humiliation.

Dinner only rose tensions between us three. Murray, our old friend from Hawkins, was unexpectedly cooking us dinner after we returned home. He said he was going on a trip with mom to Alaska, which I wasn't sure if I believed or felt upset that I was, like Mike, unaware. This was not the state any of them wanted to spend break trapped in, but unless things resolved, he and El are in for one shitty break.

And now, upstairs in his own room, Will could only stand at the open window, and come to terms with the wretched mishaps of the day. The window revealed the pitch black screen that encapsulated the entire city, tattered with stars, more than he'd ever seen in Hawkins.

*

Lenora California 1985

Once Will arrived at his new school with El, he discovered something unexpected, a friend. It was this boy named Jaden Locke. They had met two months into the fall semester, just when it seemed Will could not look more forlorn at the life he was now forced to live. Will was sitting outside of the school entrance, looking at his unraveled painting that he carried with him all day. He was waiting 10 minutes for Eleven to join him, when Henry approached, and promptly sat beside him.

"You're the Byer's kid, right. What're you working on?" Will instinctively retracted the paper into a spear roll and set it beside him out of view. Then he felt taken aback. He knew better than anyone he was a good student, probably be famous if it weren't for his serene demeanor. He had always been that way since he was 13.

The boy had a triangular shaped face with an inquisitive yet warm face. He looked only two years older than himself, probably Jonathan's age and height. As he sat beside him, Will responded. "Just some painting. I don't really show my work. I don't believe I've seen you around here."

His smile widened. "I get that a lot. How ya doin? I'm Jaden." He extended his arm, and Will involuntarily shook back. Then he scanned and rotated the situation to reveal any possible angle. Then it hit him, this was a set up. "What is wrong. Has my sister done something wrong to your friends? Are you here to threaten me?" Will's hairs shot up as he feared for El making another blunder.

Jaden must have seen his eyes dart "No, no. I just...I was interested in why you don't seem to talk." His thick Boston accent was something Will had seldom heard, and was always curious about how one acquired such a voice. "Now, just to be clear, guys tell me you're not one to talk to, but you're a boy with a picture. What do you like to Will?"

Will took a moment to scrutinize Jaden's words, as the latter pulled out a cigarette and lit it. This boy obviously wasn't put up by anyone, and he seemed fairly nice. Nicer than any other boys he'd met in school. He took a leap. Foolish, he thought, but at this point, one more antagonist couldn't hurt him. "I did like D&D. It's a fantasy game. But now I paint, landscapes and people mostly. I an artist." He said in a flustered mess.

He nodded. "Well, if you played D&D, then surely there must be some fellas that you like other than your sister."

He smirked and removed the cigarette as he finished, and Will looked back at the remaining scatters of students. "No. They're back at Hawkins. But I should be seeing them soon for Spring Break. But if you ever want to come over you can." Will didn't know why he offered this boy a visit. Rather uncharacteristic of himself yet, it felt also reliving and reassuring when Jaden abided.

"Sure. Anytime. Nice to have met ya." Jaden returned the cigarette to its bearer and got up. "See ya around Will." He swaggered out of sight just as Will heard a shout behind. The girl in a red flannel with white jeans and muddy hair undone smiled. He recognized it as El and got up, ready to divulge his newfound companion to her.

*

As a matter of fact, Will was doing just that at 5:53 when a ring came from the door. He slumped downstairs thinking it was the post man or Jonathan back from his bender with Arglye, but instead it was his friend.

"So, is dinner really good here?" Will was expecting him as it was his idea to come. This was the first time Will offered him something after they spent most of their outings on after-school weekdays talking and studying a bit together. The boy was surprisingly brilliant, and was practically an answer/explanation key to all of his algebra ll problems. Essay's were more difficult, but Jaden offered the guidance he could from someone who was a Senior. At least that's what Jaden told him.

Will nodded and lead him into the house for the visit. Joyce was currently working in the living room. Selling encyclopedias was something that sounded dull, but it sure beat having a boss or driving to one, she said to him. Will grinned at her on the desk, she deserved an easy life after everything that happened. He and his brother, and now El were doing everything they could for her. El was currently in her room working on her homework no doubt. English and History were becoming more familiar and feasible to her, and this may be partly owed to her monthly letters to Mike. Will didn't write that much to his friends, he assumed El told them how he was. They would be visiting soon enough.

Regarding his current one, Will lead Jaden past the kitchen down to the den, which was his bedroom to wait for dinner. "It should be in about half an hour. Jonathan's brining the pizza."

Jaden smiled at the thought. Will didn't know what he liked and Joyce was too busy on a Thursday to cook anything. "Sounds good." he said glancing around at Will's room like a museum.

*

Jaden caught sight of Will's craft stand next to his desk. He tip-toed toward it and rounded his head to see the painting was. Its centerpiece was a log cabin in the woods, smoke erecting from its wooden chimney, grey clouds overhead, and a little girls out of one of the cobwebbed windows. Jaden oddly thought she looked familiar. He did not take notice of Will sprinting over and abruptly crashing an opaque white canvas on top of it. Jaden blinked from the gesture and glanced up at Will.

Will was nervous about showing his work, and seemed a bit contrite about treating his friend like a thief. "Sorry. This is... this isn't finished yet. I don't normally show my work to a lot of people."

"Don't worry about it Da Vinci. My curiosity is my compass. But, if there's one thing I respect, it's a person with a talent and secrets. Art is such a delicate practice."

"I Forgot this still needed to dry." Will said and turned the stand towards him and lifted the undulating canvas. Jaden admired the elegance with which Will handled it.

"You always this... kid-glove." He said moving closer to him. Will, now relived from the unwanted awkward tension, moved to his drawer. He put is hands on top of it in thought while turning to face Jaden. He paused a moment and looked around apprehensively as if expecting Will to do something.

"I'm glad you came today. I haven't had a person over to my house for a long time."

Will had been seeing Jaden for a few weeks now. It wasn't as creepy or absurd as a clandestine closeness, but no one bothered to ask about Will's relations. They assumed he was content with his life, and unless Will asked for help, any downcast on his part was classified as homesickness. They weren't way off.

"Sure Byers. Always happy to help with your classes. After all I took them. Plus senior year's a breeze for us Go-Getters." Jaden finished meekly. Will smiled at him.

"Yeah, I agree. We can study English a bit and then we can have dinner."

Jaden hummed hesitantly. "No, my old man will be expecting me back home. He's gonna drink one too many bottles if I don't get home by 6:30. Plus, it'll be a crime for your mom to waste her delicacies on me."

Will had introduced Joyce to Jaden once when she was picking him and El up from school once. Joyce was friendly fo course to him, but didn't think too much of it. Needless to say, she approved of him, and told her son that she was glad her son was making new friends.

"I'm glad you like him. We could all use a friend in our new home." She said to him in the car once."He seems cool, meet him at school? Hey, that rhymes doesn't it." Will smiled back at his mother's commonplace yet warm jokes.

Consequently, Will was no longer nervous around Jaden, but he wasn't quite ready to consider him close yet. He recalled the feeling that Mike had endowed him with when he asked Will to be his friend in Kindergarten. He was sitting on a school swingset and Mike offered him a chance to join his club of D%D. The start of Will's excitement, and his newfound sense of purpose. Somehow Jaden offered a glimpse of that same feeling, yet something distorted it.

After about half an hour of studying, Will looked at the clock. "I guess my mom will be home any minute." Jaden nodded, "I guess that's my cue to exit."

As Will folded his binder of all his subjects carefully, Jaden dismounted his bed. Will didn't want him to leave though. A 'thank you' would not have sufficed for the endless assistance and grace with with he handled schoolwork that was freely given to Will. But this raised an essential question, why was Jaden doing this.

"So, Will. might not speak for you, but I enjoyed coming over. We got a lot done, we should do it more often. Maybe next time you can show me a thing or two on your art." Will snapping back out of contemplation refused. Jaden was always sympathetic to Will's privacy, and that was admirable considering Will carried a parchment of a painting in his backpack almost everyday. Will liked to use free periods for the art room at High School. He had been carrying his work around with him everywhere he went and the closet Jaden ever got to an answer of its contents was that Will liked studying his mistakes. And in truth, Will did.

He watched Jaden at the door and brought his question to the light. "Jaden. I wanted to ask you....why. Why do you want, like to spend time with me? I mean, a guy like you should be the most popular in school."

Jaden gave a smiling sigh and turned back around, going closer to Will. "Listen, do ya think I'm trying to get something from you, Will? People always assume the worst about me. My dad never believed I was worth anything, still don't. Most of the kids I talk to only yap away at my shiny diamonds. For ladies, I'm only good for dating which totally ain't my thing. For guys, it's just attention, you know. They're not all bad, most are up that mark, but since the beginning of school, I watched new kids, looking for one that was different. When I learned of the boy with the inapt sister who never spoke, I thought, maybe here's a change of pace for me. You turned out to be more than ya let on."

He paused and let it sink into Will, who quite frankly, began to feel more relieved than ever. "I guess we both are."

Jaden scoffed, a bit absent from his voluble state. "And he catches me monologuing. That's a first." Will laughed along with Jaden.

"Well, for what it's worth Jaden. Thank you for coming over." Will didn't know any other way to assemble his gratitude in the moment. Suddenly the doorbell rang to their left. Must have been Joyce. Jaden raised his eyebrows and then accepted. Will got up and tossed him his backpack. Jaden smiled and opened the door to leave.

He paused when he heard. "Before I say hi to your mom, I got to know. CAN YOU PLEASE SHOW ME A PAINTING."

"No, but it's special. I'll show you one soon." Jaden gave a 'pff' playfully.

"Pardon my curiosity again, but the girl in the log cabin, who is she?"

Will figured he owed Jaden at least that after he already got a glimpse of the work in progress, "It's my stepsister, El."

"El? Short for Elizabeth no doubt. Good name."

Jaden oddly appeared to stir genuine impulses in Will, the kind he hadn't felt since the days when the Hawkins gang would become suffused into D&D. While the boy himself seemed far more mature and focused than they were, he offered Will something that he almost forgot he wanted: acceptance. But, Will was not one to isolate himself from his family. He and Jonathan enjoyed Tv on late nights, Miami Vice for one. It was a good show, though Will never imagined he'd enjoy watching two cops resorting to violence in Drug deals and other dark shit. Of course, he would scroll through channels, finding an adventure flick or some kid drama. The Breakfast Club was a new favorite of his.

Ultimately, his interest in D&D, media, and friendships had remained in Hawkins and his family were the only ones he spent time with, until now. Against all odds, Jaden, who looked like David Bowie the more Will thought about it, had befriended him, the secluded geek turned artist. Speaking of which, his paintings were largely of California landscapes and moments of Hawkins that he recaptured more elegantly every practice.

CONTINUING